N-arms Freeze Urged Gorbachev Calls For End Of Buildup

March 23, 1985|United Press International.

MOSCOW — Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Friday the Soviet Union would end its buildup of nuclear missiles in Eastern Europe if the United States would halt the deployment of Pershing-2 and cruise missiles in Western Europe.

In a meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Kaleva Sorsa, Gorbachev said such a move by Washington, previously suggested by the Soviets, would be helpful to the Geneva disarmament talks.

Sorsa told a news conference after meeting with Gorbachev for an hour that chances look good for a summit meeting between Gorbachev and President Reagan next September.

He said Gorbachev will respond directly to Reagan, who sent a letter to Gorbachev after the death of President Konstantin Chernenko suggesting a meeting in the United States.

``He is going to answer Reagan`s letter in a good-mannered way,`` Sorsa said.

The official Tass news agency said Gorbachev told Sorsa, ``We are convinced that the termination of new American missile deployments in Europe with a simultaneous end to the buildup of Soviet countermeasures would be most helpful in solving the entire complex of questions under discussion in Geneva.``

After the United States began deploying the first of 572 cruise and Pershing-2 missiles in Western Europe last year, the Soviet Union responded by deploying medium-range SS-20 missiles on the territory of some of its Eastern European allies.

The new Soviet leader said the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, which calls for a freeze on nuclear missile deployment, remains unchanged.

Reagan told a news conference in Washington on Thursday chances were ``good`` for an early summit.